Automobile-cyclometer.



No. 805,111. PATENTED Nov. 21, 1905.

J. ALEXANDER.

AUTOMOBILE CYGLOMETER. APPLICATION FILED OCT. 17, 1903. RENEWED MAY 23,1905.

2 SHEETS-SHEBT 1.

3513 M flHozuFi PATENTEDNOV. 21, 1905.

J. ALEXANDER. AUTOMOBILE GYCLOMETER. APPLICATION EILEE 0GT.17, 1903. RENEWED MAY 23.1905.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

- in: the improvements of my invention. Fig.

UNITED STATES JESSE ALEXANDER, OF BROOKLYN, ASSIGNOR TO KII ITIE PATENT OFFICE.-

ALEXANDER.

AUTOMOBILE-CYCLOMETER.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Nov. 21, 1905.'

Application filed October 17, 1903. Renewed May 23, 1905- Serial F0. 261.850.

To all whom itmay concern:

Be it known that LJEssn ALEXANDER, a citizen of the United States, residing at Brooklyn, in the county of Kings, State of New York, haveinventedcertain new and useful Improvements in Automohile-Cyclometers, of

- which the following is afull, clear, and exact description,

My invention relates to registering appara tus, and particularly to a construction which is adapted to be used as a cyclometer ormilerecorder for automobiles and the like or an accurate and reliable and odometer. Instruments of this character are called upon to act at rates of speed varying between wide limits and torespond quickly, and in order to be of any value they must be yet not complicated in construction. I

It is my object to perfect such a structure .and to so arrange it that the registering-wheels may be set back to the zero position any time by manual adjustment in a simple manner. Since vehicles are-made with various sized running and, resetting the registering-wheels at the zero position by a manual operation. The

particular structure was designed for operation by an electromagnetic device which would make it possible to operate the cyclometerat some distance from the traveling wheel.

The invention will be more clearly under-- stood upon inspection of the accompanying two sheets". of drawings and the following specification.

Figure 1 is a front elevation of a cyclometar or mile-recorder in a casing, all embody- Qis'a rear elevation of the same with the back of the casing removed, showing the details of a the mechanism, some of the setting-handles being broken ofl'. ,Fig. 3 is a view of the mechanism looking-from the left of Fig. 2,

showing the resetting-gear, the casing being removed." Fig. 4' is a similar view looking from the right of Fig. 2,-.showing the reduce I ing-gears. Fig. 4 is a perspective 'viewof a detail. Fig- 5 is a cross-seetion and side ole-- vation of the recording mechanism, the section being taken jus'tinside of one ofthe side frames shown by Fig. 3. Fig.6 is an end elevation of one of the right-hand registering-drums and showing the hub construction and a companion pawl dotted. Fig. 7 is a similar view of one of the drums looking from the other side toward the face having the gear-teeth. Fig. 8. is a similar view of the companion drum looking in the opposite direction and showing the resetting-pawl. Fig. 9 is a. side elevation of the drum shown in Fig. 6 and a transfer-gear.

A is the main casing, which incloses the reglsterlngmechamsm as well as the operatingmechanism.

Bis the frame, which supports all the mechanism of the meter proper secured to' the Inside of the casing.

b I) are bars which connect the opposite sides of the frame B. This frame is prefer. ably formed from one piece of metal, the sides being bent up.

(J is a frame which carries the operating magnets and armature. o' e are brass pins which are secured inthc poles of the magnets C C to prevent sticking of the armature D, whichv is pivoted above the magnet and carries the pawl D for operating the registering" mechanism.

d is a helical spring which normally holds the armature in its raised position.

.2? is a spring-finger underneath the bottom of the pawl D',.which holds it in its operating position, but allows it to escape on its upward movement.

E is a main ratchet-wheel from which all the gears of the mechanism are dr1ven.-

F is a gear carried by the same shaft with, the ratchet E, which meshes with a pinion G."

This pinion G is mounted with a disk-worm H, having-a single turn, and the latter meshes with the worm-gear J. On the same shaft with the worm-gear J is the worm K, which meshes with the second worm-gear L. This worm-gear L is mounted on the counter-shaft M, which carries at the' opposite endinside of the frame a gear N, which I shall -termthe release=gear. This gear. N serves to trans-' mit the registration to two sets of registeringi drums for the purpose of indicating the distance traveled iii-two separate series. By this rod means the distance traveled one. single trip may be registered on one set of drums and then reset at the end of the trip, whereas the other set of drums may be allowed to register the entire distance traveled on the machine. Both sets of drums are, however, the same in construction and in operation, so that one set need be described in detail.

Considering the upper setof drums, which is intended to register the distance traversed on a single trip, the drums are indicated at P P 1 and are all mounted to turn freely on the shaft P, which is carried by the frame B. The drum P (shown at the left, Fig. 2) is that intended to register tenths of'a mile, and the others in order to the right register units, tens, and hundreds. The tenths-drum P carries the pinion O, which meshes with the release-gear N and is rotated a certain amount whenever the ratchet E is moved. This drum has on its face, as do all the drums, numerals indicating the distance traveled. One edge of the drum is cut away to a slight extent (see Fig. 9) and forms a guide-surface for the teeth of a star-wheel Q. This starwheel has onits face five teeth and on the other face ten teeth, the five teeth of one face registering with the five alternate teeth of the other face. The drum P also has t'wo'teeth, as indicated in Fig. '8, forming a pocket between them.- Whenever in the rotation of the drum, one of these two teeth comes in contact with one of the five teeth on the star-wheel,

the star-wheel is rotated until the next tooth is brought around, the contacting toothpass- 'ing through the pocket 19. This causes the star-wheel to turn through the angular space of one-fifth of a revolution, or two teeth of the ten-teeth face, which in turn causes the unitsdrum P to rotate through the space of twoof its teeth, which are shown in Fig. 7. As soon as the pocket 9 of the drum P has passed, the star-wheel Q is locked against rotation by the ledge-on the drum until the two teeth and the recess between them comes around again. In the same way the drum P transmits its motion to the star-wheel Q and the drum P- transmits its derived motion through the star-wheel Q to the drum P The lower series of drums is operated in exactly the same manner from the release-gear N to the pinion D. All the star- Wheels-are loose on their shaft Q. I v It is often desirable to reset the .;registering-wheelsof the meter or bring the wheels back to the zero position, and for this purpose I have provided what maybe termed a resetting mechanism. The star-wheel shaft Q is carried by a pair of arms (1 g, which are mountedon the shaft q, which is pivoted in the frame B. When the star-wheels Q Q 3 are released from the drums and their teeth, the drums are free to turn and may be brought back to Zero. The starwheel shaft Q, is lifted so as to retract the star-wheels by means of 'starwhcels to press against the drums.

the handle R,which is pivoted at b (by a screwthread) in the frame B and has the arm raid the pin 7*, the latter of which engages with the arm When the handle R is moved forward, the pin r tilts the arm and thus re- 7 tracts the star-wheels. The star-wheels are brought back to their engaging positions when the handle R is released by means of the spring S, which is attached to the shaft Q of the starwheels. The other end of the spring S is at tached to a similar star-wheel shaft or frame for the lower set of registeringwheels, so that both sets of star-wheels are brought into their operative engagement by the same spring.

.5" is a stop-pin carried by the frame B, which prevents the spring S from causing the A similar pin is provided for the arms carrying the lower set of star-wheels. .lt is important that the star-wheels when retracted shall, not be permitted to turn at all, but shall return to exactly their original position when released, For this purpose the series of small springs s s are carried by the shaft 1 and rest against the teeth of the star-wheels. it is of course understood that each of these star-wheels is mounted on the shaft Q and that they turn independently of each other.

- When the star-wheels are released from the drums, the drums are. returned to their zero position by turning the handle T. This handle carries a gear 5', which meshes with the pinion 2f, carried with the drum P. The gear N must, however, first be released from the pinion 0, so as to disconnect the reducinggears. This is done by simply pushing in the sleeve M, which slides on the shaft M and which carries the gear N, the end of the sleeve projecting from the casing A. for that purpose. The drum P carries on the interior a pivoted pawl p and the drum 1 carries a pin 7f, the pawl being normally held in the position shown in Fig. 8 by a spring 0 When the drum P is turned in a direction to bring it back to zero, the pawl 2" engages the pin 1), and the pawl being prevented from turning by having its inner end engaging the end of the hub the drum P is thus rotated. in a similar manner the drum P carries a pawl on the opposite side, which engages with a pin carried by thedrum P and so on to the last drum, the same mechanism being duplicated with any number of drums. The last drum in this case, P, has projection oream p,-which engages with a pawl p, carried by the frame B. Vlr'hen this pawl brings the last drum to rest,'all of the drums are in their zero position. When the release-gear N is back in place in mesh with the pinion O, the registering of the mechan- 5 ism continues as before. The pawl p slips over the pingv at each revolution, since the direction of rotation is the reverse of the re setting.

-- In order that the force required to operate sci-5,111

the star-wheels of both sets of drums shall not be exercised at the same instant, I prefer simply to set the pinion O of the upper drumshaft in engagement with the gear N just a slight angle in advance of the position of engagement of the pinion O of the lower set of registering-wheels. The result is simply that the movement is transmitted from one drum to the other in the upper set just an instant prior to that in the lower set, so that the extra force required for these operations is not combined,

In this form of cyclometer herein shown the gear F is'driven from the ratchet E by means of an electromagnet, which is operated at each revolution of a wheel or the like which is sought to be registered. Every time the circuit is energized the magnet is operated, draws down the pawl D, and thus rotates the ratchet one tooth, the spring f preventing rearward movement. The proportions of the gears in the mechanism herein shown and de scribed are such that the ratchetE must rotate exactly thirty-seven and one-half times for each turn of the drum P, representing a mile. This is efi'ected by the ratchet E having eighteen teeth, the gear F thirty-two, pinion (Jr eight, worm-gear 'J fifteen, the worm-gear L twenty, the release-gear N forty, and the pinion O twenty, the formula being 9 X20 52% 40 as In this particular combination of ratios of gears I have found it possible to operate the cyclometer with great accuracy either on twenty-eight, thirty, thirty-two, thirty-four. or thirty-six inch wheels, it simply being necessary to use the ratchet E with nineteen, eighteen, seventeen, sixteen, or fifteen teeth, respectively, so that the same instrument may be used on an automobile or other vehicle having wheels of those various sizes mentioned by simply employing the proper ratchet E.

This cyclometer may be conveniently attached to the back of thefront dashboard of a vehicle and will record or register the dis tance traversed with great accuracy, the motion being transmitted from the vehicle-wheel at eaclrrevolution, no matter in which direction the vehicle is going, the same effect being had upon the mechanism.

What 1 claim is- 1. A registering mechanism comprising. two series of. registering-drums,a series of connecting-gears for each of said series, a shaft for each of said series of gears, a spring connecting said shafts and means for manually retracting said shafts to withdraw the gears from engagement with the registeringdrums.

'2. A registering mechanism comprising, two series of registering-drums, a gear for operating both of said series simultaneously,

revolution of E z I 37%.

ing-shaft is disconnected.

, backwardly.

mechanism for rotating said gear, and means for longitudinally disengaging said gear from its connection with said drums.

,3. A registering mechanism comprising,

two drum-shafts, a series of drums on each shaft, a series of connecting-gears for each drum series, means for retracting said connecting-gears, a main driving-shaft, means for disconnecting said driving-shaft from said series of drums, and means for returning said drums to their-initial positions when theconnecting-gears are released and the main drive. I i a registering mechanism the combination of a frame, a series of registering-drums, a series of transmitting-gears between said drums, a train of reducing-gears carried by said frame and including a release-gear, a shaft mountedin said frame and atfording a bearing for said release-gear and means for disconnecting said registering-drums from said red ucing-train by longitudinal movement of said release-gear.

5. A registering mechanism comprising, a stationary shaft, a rotatable drum mounted thereon, a spring-pressed pawl having one end engaging the periphery of the hub of said drum, a second drum mounted adjacent to the first drum on said shaft, a pin carried by said second drum for engagement with said pawl, means for rotating said first drum, means of connection for intermittently rotating said second drum, means for releasing said connecting means, and means for rotating said first drum backwardly whereupon the pawl in its backward movement will engage the pin on the second drum and both be rotated backward together.

6. A registering mechanism comprising, a frame, a stationary shaft mounted in said frame, a series of rotatable drums on said shaft, means for rotating and connecting the same, a pro ection carried by the last drum of said series, a spring-pressed pivoted pawl car,- ried by said frame adapted to be engaged by the said projection when said drum is rotated- 7. A registering mechanism comprising, two series of rotatable drums, means for operating the'same, a series of connecting-gears for each series of drums, a pivotally-mounted frame carrying each of said series of gears, a spring for automatically drawing each of said series of gears into operative connection with said drums, and stop-pins for preventing said gears from pressing against the drums.

8. in acyclometer, the combination ofa casing, an electromagnet, an armature therefor, a pawl operated by the movement of said armature, a ratchet, two ser es of registering drums, a train of gears connecting said ratchet with said drums, means for disengaging said train from said drums and means for resetting said drums when said drums are released from when said train is disconnected and said gears are retracted.

10. A registering mechanism comprising, two series of registering-drums, a ratchet, a train of gears connecting the ratchet and said drums, a frame affording bearings for said drums and said train of gears, an electromagnet beneath said gears, an armature therefor pivoted at right angles thereto, a pawl carried by said armature and projecting upward for engagement with said ratchet, a frame supporting said magnet and said armature, and a casing formed of two parts, a curved front and a flat back removably secured together and all surrounding and inclosing all of said mechanisms, said frames being separately and removably secured in said casing as described.

11.' In a registering mechanism, the combination of aframe,aseries of registering-d rums with connecting-gears, a pinion carried by one of saidcdrums inside of said frame, a shaft mounted in said frame, a gear-wheel carried by said shaft and meshing with said pinion, a series of reducing-gears carried by said frame but outside thereof, a second shaft mounted in said frame, and a ratchet carried thereby inside of said frame, substantially as described.

12. In a registering mechanism, the.combi nation of a series of registering-drums, a series of connecting-gears, means for preventing the accidental rotation of said gears, a pivoted frame carrying said gears, a casing surrounding said drums and gears, a spring for normally holding said gears in their operative position and a separate and removable bellcrank lever having one end engaging said frame and the other end projecting outside of said casing for releasing said gears, substantially as described.

13. In a registering mechanism, the combination of a frame having side plates and connecting-bsirs, two series of registering-drums carried between said side plates, transmittinggears between said-drums, a train of reducing-gears operatively connected with said drums, a casing for surrounding said mechanism, a longitudinally-movable handle extending outside of said casing for disconnecting said train ofgears, a swinging handle extending outside of said casing for releasing said transmitting-gears and a rotatable handle extending outsideof said casing for resetting one of said series of drums.

14. In a registering mechanism, the combination of a frame,a series of registering-drums carried theieby,a series of transmitting-gears, means for releasing said gears, a pinion outside of said frame and rotatable with one of said drums, a larger gear-wheel pivotally carried by the outer side of said frame and meshing with said pinion, a casing surrounding all of said parts and a handle extending outside of said casing connected with said wheel for resetting said drum when said gears are released.

15. In a registering mechanism, the combiwhereby the drums of one series transmittheir movement to'their adjacent drums just before the corresponding movement in the other series of drums.

JESSE ALEXANDER.

Witnesses:

RoB'r. S. ALLYN, L. VREELAND. 

